Murdock lifted his brows and shook his head. “Hey, I’m probably just tilting at fantasy windmills. When I see the blades going around, then it’ll be time to get concerned. What else do we have to do to get ready for that climb up the side of that freighter?”
Murdock found the sedan the SAS had left for his use, and the driver took him as close as they could get to the Japanese ship in the harbor that they would try to take down. Murdock got on his phone and called the SAS captain.
“Brainridge, Murdock. We don’t need your boat. We’ll swim out to the ship underwater to insure surprise. We have that gear, rebreathers, and we can take what we need in drag bags. We will need a bus to get us to our PD by 0030. Figure about fifteen minutes to swim out, then up the side and be on board by 0100, when you and your guys will drop in for a visit.”
“You’re full of surprises, Murdock, but I like this plan the best. That way no snoopy lookout could see the boat and give the alarm. Yes, it works. I’ll have a bus for you at your quarters at 2300. Everything else going on plan?”
“So far, so good, Captain. See you at 1800.”
The SEALs took the change in plans in stride. To them it didn’t matter how they arrived at the ship, just so they were undetected. Then nobody got shot going up the side of the ship.
Murdock, DeWitt, Sadler, Jaybird, and Lam filed into the conference room five minutes before 1800. The SAS team was there, but the general and the two British civilians were not. Don Stroh waved at them, but didn’t talk. Murdock wondered why he was so distant on this mission. Maybe he’d gotten chewed out by his boss.
Captain Brainridge carried the meeting. “Any more changes? We still go in at 0100. That’s exactly seven hours from now. Did you get the weapons and ammo you need?”
“We did, Captain,” Senior Chief Sadler said. “We also drew six lines eighty feet long with grappling hooks. We’re ready.”
“The bus has arrived and the driver knows the route to the ship,” Lieutenant DeWitt said. “We’ll leave a half hour earlier than suggested to give plenty of time for him to get lost once.”
“Our equipment has been checked and rechecked,” Murdock said. “We’re ready to go. Any word of change of plans from the politicians?”
“No, it’s still in our lap. There was another radio message that indicated the Arabs are getting restless. They want some action before dark tomorrow night.”
“We can guarantee them that,” Murdock said. “Oh, if by any chance we get on deck before you do and we run into a firefight, we’ll give you a red flare so you can hold off until we get the deck clear and safe.”
“Sounds good,” Captain Brainridge said. “No fun dropping into cross fire on a restricted area like that one.” He looked around. “If nothing else, I’d suggest a short sleep period before you motor out. Never know when we’ll get any more sleep.”
The captain stood, and the rest of the men came to their feet. The captain and his SAS men walked out.
Stroh drifted over to Murdock. “This is a nasty one. You are totally covert on this one. Only four or five men in Washington know that you’re here or know about the nuke blackmail. I’d bet not even your father knows, Murdock.”
“Might be a bad bet. He has sources all over town.” Murdock looked at the CIA handler. “You know anything more about this? Is Israel set to move on the Arab extremists once this mess is over?”
Stroh shook his head. “Honestly I don’t know. I’d bet my last Microsoft stock that they will move viciously, but I have no intel on it.”
Murdock waved the group out the door. “Good idea about having a sleep period. Senior Chief, get the men down for three hours. Then we make final prep and we’ll get moving.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Three hours. Consider it done, sir.”
For the SEALs a sleep period like this didn’t necessarily mean going to sleep. Anyone who wanted to could. It did mean no talking, no singing, no music. Contemplation, relaxation, and meditation were encouraged.
Senior Chief Sadler wanted to call his wife. He’d only had a quick talk with her before they left Coronado. He’d caught her between customers at her real-estate sales job in Coronado. It wasn’t fair to her, all of this sudden activation, the long training runs and then being gone so much. He’d promised her that after his twenty-five they would open their own real-estate agency and he’d learn the business. Hell, a guy couldn’t keep up with these damn kid SEALs until he was fifty-five. Admin maybe. He wanted to keep working with the SEALs even if he wasn’t on a team. He had no desire to go back to the black-shoe Navy. He’d done his time there. Before he knew it, his wrist alarm went off. It was time to get ready. In two hours they could be in the middle of a huge gun battle. Oh, yeah, once more into the fray. He loved it!
7
Sixteen SEALs from the Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven slid into the water a quarter of a mile from the Sendai Maru. When Murdock was sure all were in the water and had their buddy cords tied around their wrists, they submerged to fifteen feet and followed their leader on a compass course directly for the Japanese-flag freighter.
Murdock counted the strokes. He felt a small boat race over the water above him; then when he figured he was within fifty yards of the ship, he surfaced cautiously, letting only his eyes break the surface of the water. Yes, there she was, the target freighter. She had lights on, more than usual, but the near side was dark from the waterline up the side thirty feet to the rail. Murdock tugged his buddy cord and Jaybird came up beside him. Soon there were sixteen faces looking at the ship. Murdock waved down, and they vanished under the cold waters of London’s harbor to complete the swim to the black side of the Sendai Maru.
Murdock felt the rough steel side of black paint, and moved to the surface. Three SEALs were already there. Luke “Mountain” Howard had one of the grappling hooks out of his drag bag, and tied the loose end of the line to his wrist. Murdock knew that throwing a grappling hook that high when a man was in the water was a tough assignment. They had practiced this in San Diego Harbor on several friendly freighters. The secret was the next two largest men came alongside the thrower, and each caught a foot for him to stand on, then treaded water like crazy as the thrower made his try.
Jack Mahanani and Bill Bradford felt the lunge upward as Howard threw the hook, driving them two feet deeper into the water. They came up a moment later to see the result. Howard was swearing softly and pulling the forty feet of line up from the bottom of the harbor with the grappling hook attached.
On the third try the hook went over the rail and held Howard’s 250 pounds. Jaybird was the first one up the rope. He left his drag bag with flotation collar with another SEAL, and went up hand over hand, walking up the steel side as he powered to the top. When Jaybird was halfway up, Ken Ching went up the rope.
The trio of SEALs tried another grappling hook ten feet down from the first one. Howard made this one hang up on his second try. Murdock told them that two would be enough. With the two it took the SEALs four minutes for everyone to climb the rope and get on board. They tied their drag bags with flotation devices onto the lines they had climbed, and left them next to the freighter’s side.
Jaybird went over the rail and flattened on the deck. He saw four lights on this part of the freighter. A huge crane stood to one side; beyond that he could see four hatch covers. He saw no guards, lookouts, or gunmen. He prowled toward the bow of the craft and the superstructure that rose from the deck near the middle of the ship. Where were the damned Arabs?
Behind him he heard muted sounds as the other SEALs came over the rail. Murdock surged up beside Jaybird as he looked around a second crane.